The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

Yes, this is a business book, but one of the rare good business books that I can see myself re-reading periodically into the future. Most business books are such fluff, with so little content, that I feel sorry for all the trees that sacrificed themselves to make what is essentially blank paper. The Effective Executive, on the other hand, is pretty dense. The book is short (174 pages, plus an index). And while many of the points it makes are obvious, they're the types of obvious points that people still miss. At the current stage of my career, there are three points this book made that I'm going to pay close attention to. The first is to continue to manage my time carefully. The second is to focus on the right results I should be show more achieving: this is something I haven't done enough of. I've been caught in fire-fighting mode. Finally, I'm going to pay more attention to my decision-making. Drucker makes an interesting point, one that I don't have enough experience to agree or disagree with yet. He argues that an effective executive doesn't make many decisions, and he doesn't make them quickly. Instead, he makes a few important decisions. One thing I haven't been asking myself: Am I making the important decisions? show less

Really fine work here. The chapters, Know Thy Time and The Elements of Decision-making were especially good and warrant a regular re-read. It is hard to find the really good business books, the ones that speak to the heart of the matter in a concise and clear manner. This book transcends the modern squishy business book genre and speaks to a larger audience, those that want to be more effective. It does this while providing solid business advice that any serious student of the corporate world will appreciate.

This one's sure dated. Drucker writes clean, assertive prose. The book is very quotable and also full of useful info, but so much of it references case studies from 50 - 100 years ago that it's hard today to feel like I'm able to extract as much meaning out of the case studies as somebody might have in 1966. I'm simultaneously reading The Daily Drucker and for the moment am inclined to think that reading a summary of the high points of The Effective Executive book and maybe thumbing through a copy of The Daily Drucker would be a useful exercise for most anybody in a lead or management role. I'm not sure I'd recommend a full read of The Effective Executive for most, though.

(Side note -- the more I read this book, the more, for some show more reason, I had trouble not hearing it in my head in the voice of Droop Dog.)

I've written a slightly more comprehensive review here. show less

This is of course a classic of Management literature. Even though some ideas and concepts are becoming obsolete, I recommend reading this book, if you want to understand the purpose and principle of managing effectively as well as the difference to doing it efficiently.

A very practical read that remains relevant, despite being written in 1966. Drucker premises the book about maximizing the effectiveness (getting the right things done) of a new class of 'knowledge workers' -- what strikes me as particularly relevant is the these lessons can be applied beyond the stereotypical white collar office worker, particularly in service and light manufacturing.

Today, I don't think there is as clear of a dichotomy as Drucker proposes. All workers would benefit from:
-Reducing the non-value add work that wastes their time and energy (Know Thy Time)
-Focusing their efforts on high-contribution initiatives (What Can I Contribute?)
-Having jobs that are designed to be demanding and big, so as to be engaged to grow show more personally and professionally (Making Strength Productive)
-Communicate what parts of their role could be abandoned or de-prioritized (First Things First)

The book can lose your attention a bit in written form, so I particularly enjoyed the free audiobook version available as a podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xMjI1ZDRkMC9wb2RjYXN... show less

Solid ideas and a few good insights, particularly Drucker's definition of what an executive even is (a person that must independently make decisions and take responsibility for those decisions), as well as the idea that with any good decision there will be disagreement. However, I found some anecdotes to be difficult to relate back to the point being made. Many of the topics also seem to be common sense, though perhaps this is a testament to the success of the book and the permeation of its ideas today.

Wasn’t the easiest bedside reading, but important read. Similar to The One Thing, 7 habits, how to win friends, in that it’s from a different era and some of the man focused language is outdated. Would be good to have a even more condensed version with contemporary examples but I appreciated learning about McNamara, Alfred Sloan and the like. Important decision making rubric and self management ideas.